My fiend inherited this old lever action. No marking visible and it doesn’t look like any old Winchester, Henry, or marlin models I’ve looked up. Any ideas?

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Hey everyone!

I've been curious about the differences between a precision rifle and a sniper rifle, especially when it comes to their design, intended roles, and historical development.

From what I understand, both are designed for accurate shooting at longer distances, but I'm wondering what actually separates them.

A few questions I have:

1. Design and features: Are there specific characteristics that distinguish a precision rifle from a sniper rifle, or are they essentially the same thing?

2. Military vs. civilian use: Is the term "sniper rifle" mainly used in military and law enforcement contexts, while "precision rifle" is a broader term?

3. Historical development: When did firearms start being classified as sniper rifles rather than simply accurate or precision rifles?

4. Examples: Would rifles like the Accuracy International Arctic Warfare, Remington 700, and Sako TRG be considered sniper rifles, precision rifles, or both?

5. Intended roles: Does the classification depend more on the rifle's design and capabilities or on how it's actually used?

I'd especially appreciate input from people familiar with military firearms history, rifle development, or precision shooting.

Thanks in advance! I'm interested in learning more about the technical and historical differences between these two terms.

The Sharps Borchardt was striker-fired while the Winchester 1885 was hammer fired, but it cocked on closing the breech. Coincidence or not?

Was at a museum and saw a few interesting pieces was curious what that lmg on the right is

Wilhelm Collath horizontal pinfire system developed in 1860s, exact date isn't known in Frankfurt an Oder.

Concept for its time is both advanced and brilliant in its simplicity, essentially a "evolution missing link" between Lefaucheux pinfire system and modern centerfire.

Small pin in channel that rested in a percussion cap (separated with layer of compressed paper to avoid accidental detonation and holding pin in the shell) half an inch into the case base made from compressed paper and reinforced with iron head.

The wider centerfire hammer (photo No. 5 show Collath system shotgun) would hit the pin which knocked it into the cap to set it off. The reasoning was to make the ignition travel backwards first so that it would have a little more time to burn the powder before building up the pressure to propel the shot. This allowed for less burning powder to travel down the barrel.

Compared to other early self-contained cartridges, it had fairly inexpensive and not complicated production scheme suited for mass production and seems like better reliability by protecting gunpowder and percussion cap from moisture as they are perfectly isolated from environment and more mechanically reliable and more safe for user compared to its biggest competitor, Lefaucheux system as pin is inside of shell, not sticking out.

He also came up with his own size numbering system. They roughly equate like this:

• 0 -> 10g
• 1 -> 12g
• 3 -> 14g
• 4 -> 16g
• 5 -> 18g
• 6 -> 20g
• 7 -> 24g
• 8 -> 28g

My guessing "No. 2" shell was probably 13 gauge (sic!) shell originating from muzzleloading era shotguns measures but was removed from ammo offering due to low demand but "hole" in Collath size numbering system was left to avoid further confusion.

Collath system stay in production until 1930s both as blackpowder (green colored shells) and smokeless (red colored shells) loadings.

Collath odd revival in 2025 - Or taking step back for legal reason

Last photo show reproduction of Collath system shotgun made by gunsmith Wacław Cichy in Poland as a "breech-loading, black-powder, separate-loading" shotgun. Due to local gun law replicas of separate loading black-powder firearms made prior to 1885 are available without permit.

Cichy Idea how to made it avalaible without permit?

• Gun made prior to 1885 - He take Collath breechloading shotgun from 1860s/1870s
• Black powder - Self-explanatory
• Separate loading - Ammo can't be self-contained. Cichy removed pin and percussion cap from original Collath shell and pin channel is filled with fine gunpowder while ignition start as in conventional caplock so his breechloading reproduction fulfill being "separate loading" gun.

"Collath-Cichy Shotgun Shell" being reduced to shot, paper and blackpowder also don't need metal head for extraction, so cartridge rim is cardboard disk glued at the bottom so they are combustible.

Not many of these around. Bought at an auction in the UK. Chat gbt says that 89 were built and this one is the 3rd one made. Unfortunatly this one has been deactivated but will make a nice wall hanger

The Kongsberg M/75A Junior .22 LR is an exceptionally rare Norwegian rimfire bolt-action rifle.

Produced by the historic Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk for civilian target shooters, its extreme rarity is backed by official production archives:

• Total Production: Only 89 units were ever manufactured.

• Production Years: It was built across a very short window between 1959 and 1960.

• Serial Number Range: Authenticated models carry serial numbers ranging strictly from 2001 to 2089.

Because they were produced in such a tiny batch for the domestic Scandinavian market, surviving examples are prized collector's items. If you are looking at an authentic M/75A Junior within that serial number block, you are holding a piece of Norwegian firearms history.

The QSB-11 entered into service in 2011. It is loaded with four rounds of 5.8mm DVC-05 suppressed pistol cartridges. On one side of the hand stopper, there is a notch that serves as sights and two muzzles for each bullets on each side of the blade. The trigger is a button located at the thumb position. While not shown in video, the sheath can apparently be combined with the dagger to create a pair of scissors that can cut through 3mm of steel wire.

The PLA states this dagger is able to launch a decisive strike in a very short time, and serves as the last measure for recon troops to launch an ambush and self-defence.

The Shattuck Unique .22 short 4 barrel palm pistol. Squeeze trigger operation. I have been wanting one for a long time and finally got one in decent condition and a relatively reasonable price. Only about 2000 to 3000 ever made. Any of them that ended up outside the US cannot be imported again.

Rare example of a China Lake 40mm, pump action, mag fed grenade launcher. Spotted in the War Remnants Museum in Saigon (HCMC) yesterday.

I was thinking while watching the new High Power video about how often these disastrous military trials get brought up in Ian's videos, and how many fun anecdotes there are that let him and through his storytelling, us, get an idea of the opinions, thoughts, and larger context of the arbiters and their personalities.

Taking on the persona of these officers in as high or low effort manner as he'd want (I'm happy with Ian's armchair but I also know he likes excuses to put on some fun uniforms), and presenting stuff like alternative weapons from the era that they wouldn't have been exposed to; the eventual end result of those trials; what sort of weapon their military actually ended up using, say 10 years from then with or without the context of the war that inspired it; and for fun, a modern gun that would theory blow all the contemporary competitors out of the water, but about which I'm sure the classic uptight procurement officer might have opinions on. "This is completely the wrong caliber for our 'modern' troops! And this rapid fire switch?? They'd waste all their issued ammunition in a heartbeat!" et cetera.

There are seemingly endless examples of the sort of character I'd like to see from Ian's stories, M14 trials, SPIW, the French pre war pistol trials that inspired this, and so on. What are some of your ideas?